"I intrusted her to you--where is she ?" The white lips opened, and some feeble answer came which he could not hear.
"Where is my child ?" he demanded.

"What have you done with her?
For Heaven's sake, answer me!" he implored.
Again she murmured something he could not catch, and he bent over her.
If ever in his life Lord Mountdean lost his temper, he lost it then.

He could almost, in his impatience, have forgotten that it was a woman who was kneeling at his feet, and could have shaken her until she spoke intelligibly.

His anger was so great he could have struck her.

But he controlled himself.
"I am not the most patient of men, Margaret Dornham," he said; "and you are trying me terribly.